Twins of Irk
by Chaotica
Summary: Accidents happen, and sometimes they do more than they should.
1. Part 1

Twins of Irk  
  
"This is an absolute disaster!"  
A tall female Irken paced the small conference room. Two other Irkens of about her height sat at the table with grave looks in their red eyes. The purple-eyed female turned on them.  
"A horrendous breach in protocol. This cannot be allowed to continue!" She gripped the back of a chair and leaned in on them dangerously.   
"Surely Nursery Watcher they cannot be identical through their whole life." One of the red-eyed males said a bit shakily. "I'm positive one will turn out to be taller than the other, eventually."  
"Eventually?" The female asked narrowing her eyes.  
"Well." The other male started. "So far they are identical, but I doubt that will continue for much longer."  
"Bah!" She pushed away from the chair and started pacing again. "I want this matter absolved now!"  
"We could inform the Tallest that,"  
"No! Not even the Tallest is allowed to know of this." She cut in sharply. "For generations our area has been engineering Tallests without the knowledge of the populace. We will not start now." She roughly pulled out a chair and sat down heavily. "We can fix this and make it look like an accident at least since killing one of them is against regulations."  
The two males nodded. "But how?" One asked. "This has never happened before."  
She tapped her lips with a spindly finger. "Place one in the Invader tanks and the other in the Thinker tanks. At least one of them should make it to Tallest and either way we'd have a good leader."  
"A very good plan Nursery Watcher." One of the males said. The two started to get up.  
"One other thing."  
They paused dreading something horrible.   
"I want only one of these embryos to be recorded as our creation. The other, the Invader one, will be labeled a gene accident in our private databanks. I want this problem erased from our archives, no one must know this was our fault."  
"Yes Nursery Watcher." They said before leaving.  
***  
"Pid are you paying attention?"  
The little purple-eyed Irkens' eyes snapped open wider. "Yes Archivist." He said sitting at attention.  
The old Irken whose' eyes were a dull ruby didn't look impressed. "See to it that you continue to pay attention Pid, you have much to learn."  
"Yes Archivist." Pid looked down back at his monitor that was scrolling down lists of great Irkens of History. He absolutely despised these lessons. But there was only so much infant programming could teach an Irken. The rest had to be learned manually.  
He was a great deal taller than those in his hatchery age group. Which meant he was defiantly going to be of great influence when he reached his full height. Already, in hid adolescence, he was thin and spindly. Most Irkens were short and skinny, but Pid was taller and skinnier than most. It was almost embarrassing the way people looked up in awe at him.  
He almost wished he were someone else.  
Almost.  
***  
"Tin! Tin! Tin!"  
The chant echoed through the obstacle course as the tallest Invader-programmed Irken of the crowds hatchery age sped through the course. He leapt and climbed, flipped and dived his way through the difficult trail with his class cheering him on.   
They were all supposed to be going through it but the Invader class never gave up the chance to rally.  
His name was Tin and his eyes were a brilliant red. He jumped across a wide void making it to the second rope rather than the first like most would. The crowd went wild as he again skipped a rope across the dangerous fall.   
He came to a wall one was supposed to climb down to reach the end. He did an impressive turning back flip off the sheer drop landing expertly on his feet. He stood up to his full height and held his arms high in triumph.  
The crowd of Invader class children rushed him cheering and howling wildly. They came up to just below his rib cage since he was vastly taller than them. Already his body was skinnier and very spindly. The sign of a Taller.  
He howled with them catching his breath from the run. He loved the attention and reveled in the affections the few females in the Class were directing at him now.  
"Very Impressive Tin."  
The group died down and filed into Rank. Tin did as well standing at perfect attention as their instructor paced through the crowd. "Very impressive indeed." The older Irkens' pale red eyes glanced along the obstacle course. "I dare say if you don't reach the height requirement for a Taller you'll make the best Invader I've ever turned out of here."  
"Thank you sir." Tin said not moving an inch from his spot.  
"You can all learn from Tin. He's fast, agile and tall." He glanced down the row at the shorter Invader children. Particularly a very head-strong if not incompetent one he'd rather not have had placed under his command. "I want you all to run this course for the rest of the day. Report to the mess hall for late-day-meal." He watched the small Irkens rush to go at their set task.  
Tin watched the old Irken walk away. And for some reason, at that moment, he almost wished he was someone else.  
Almost.  
***  
Tin sat around a table in a bar called 'The Flaming Nacho' with a few of his taller comrades. They weren't old enough to drink anything above an 1.2 alcohol content but they could still have a few things there.  
"I'm telling you Tin, you're a shoe in for Head-Invader." A far shorter but taller than most Irken called Gig said.  
The other Irken with them called Bis nodded. "A female might even consider you for a full court-ship."  
Tin waved the topic away. "I might make Head-Invader but I don't know what female would have and Invader male, and the females in our class would be too deep in their own missions to care. Besides, at the rate I'm going I'll make Taller and get out of the military."  
"You know that never happens." Bis said gulping his drink.  
Tin shrugged.  
"Hey look, Thinkers." Gig said pointing across the bar.  
Two purple-eyed Irkens came in. One was obviously taller than the other. He also didn't look like he wanted to be here.  
"What are they doing in Invader territory?" Tin asked in a low voice.   
"Damned if I know. Maybe they just want a drink."  
"You know Thinkers, they get weird programming. I heard about one that went on a killing spree last hatching cycle. A female, red-eyed. She went on some sort of rampage stabbing people with pens if they didn't answer her questions correctly." Bis said eyeing the two Thinkers.  
"I never heard of that." Gig said scowling at his drinking buddy.  
"Shut up, they're coming this way." Tin hushed them.  
The shorter of the Thinkers passed their table briskly but the taller one met eyes with Tin curiously. But in the end he walked on by to sit with his companion.  
"Hey Tin, he looks as tall as you."  
Tin blinked. "What?"  
"That Thinker, he's as tall as you."  
"You're kidding."  
"No, Gig is right."  
The three turned to the Thinkers huddled together in the back of the bar talking quietly to themselves. The taller one eventually turned his head seeing them staring. Only Tin didn't look away immediately. He did eventually turn back to his drink.  
"That's just creepy." Bis said. Tin ignored him.  
***  
"What do you think that was about?" Pid asked his companion Fer.  
Fer shrugged. "Invader class males. They're strange. They go berserk you know."  
"That's just hearsay." Pid said blinking slowly.  
"No I'm serious. There's supposed to be some insanely wigged out Invader out there. A real short one that's totally crazy. Claimed he was 'Lord of something-or-other', not sure what it was."  
"That's just nonsense." Pid typed in the drink he wanted on the menu bar. It slid out of a hole in the table and he took it.   
He watched the three Invaders they had passed by get up and leave. He almost spit out his drink on seeing the height of one of them.  
"Mother of Irk, that one's as tall as you!" Fer exclaimed.  
"No, surely not. Invaders never get to my height."  
"Well he certainly is a big one then."  
"Fer honestly." He saw Fer shrug and the conversation was supposedly banished. But somewhere Pid knew Fer was right. 


	2. Part 2

A/N: Bah, me and disclaimers so do not get along....  
Disclaimer: I don't own it! Lord of the Underworld can't you get it through your skulls!?  
  
Twins of Irk  
  
The barracks for Invaders in Training lit up slowly as the morning arrived. Tired eyed Irkens sat up in their beds trying to remember where their uniforms were.  
Down at the far end Tin pulled on his pants and tried to get his shirt on. His antenna twitched lazily as he heard footsteps approach.  
"Private Tin?"  
Red eyes turned to find another pair of the same shade looking back at him. "Yes?"  
"Come with me." The male Irken handed Tin a paper. "You have officially reached the height requirement for a Taller."  
The barracks feel silent watching the scene.  
Tin gawked down at the paper. It was official with the present Tallests' private seal stamped on it. "I what?" He asked.  
The Irken blinked slowly. "You are officially a Taller."  
"Go Tin!"  
Tin barely recognized Gigs' voice. The rest of the barracks broke out in cheers and applause.   
"If you'll come with me." The Irken motioned towards the front exit.  
Tin got up carrying his gloves and trying to make sure this was real. His comrades where cheering and wiggling their antenna as he passed. He waved dazedly at them and found himself grinning.  
Once outside the Irken that had retrieved him lead Tin to a Runner that was waiting for them. "You're very lucky. Not many from that gene class get as tall as you."  
"I know." Tin said sitting down and strapping in. "Where am I going?"  
"To the Great Hall to make this all super official. You'll meet the other one there and the both of you will go to receive your new training at the."  
"Wait." Tin interrupted. "The other one?"  
The Irken nodded. "Yes. His name is Pid I believe." The Runner started to lift off. "Odd thing is, you two seem to be the same height."  
***  
"Is that him?" Pid asked seeing the tall Irken in Invader dress enter the Great Hall with another that was taller than him but obviously older.  
Fer blinked. "Hey, that's the one from the bar the other mmmph.."  
"Quiet, you want the Archivist to know we went to a bar?" Pid asked clapping a hand over Fers' mouth. He took it away slowly.  
"Sorry." Fer said looking a bit sheepish.  
Pid sighed. "Just, never mind, thanks for being here for me anyway Fer."  
"Hey, we're from the same hatchery room, you might be taller than me but I know you're just a lucky oddity of genetics."  
Pid lowered his eyelids. "Gee thanks."  
Fer smiled brightly. "No problem!"  
"Ah, Pid." The old Irken said leading the Invader Irken over to Pid and Fer. "There you are."  
Tin met eyes with this 'Pid' and recognized him. "I've seen you."  
Pid looked startled. "I, er, perhaps you have." He said quickly.  
"Well." The old Irken said. "You two talk for a bit, I'll go get Kilew. Fer if you will accompany me."  
"Of course." Fer walked with the old Irken.  
Tin glanced around the hall. "Not much of a 'Great Hall'." He said.  
"Well, this isn't the main hall, the rest of it stretches about a mile off." Pid said motioning down one corridor. "It's not exactly impressive to look at but its size is what makes it 'Great'."  
"Oh. The weapons are nice though."  
"Those are from our more ancient times. Most are recreated, all are usable. We lined every wall with weapons starting from the first hunting tools to the last type of blade used to this date."  
"You know a lot." Tin said. "You always talk like that?"  
"I am from the Thinker Class. I'm supposed to."  
There was a pause.  
"It was you I saw at the bar." Tin said, it was a statement, not a question.  
"Well, I. Just don't talk about it, I wasn't supposed to be there. Fer and I just needed to get away from our studies for a night and." Pid paused. "If the Archivist found out I'd be in some trouble."  
"What kind of trouble can you be in? You're a Taller now, just like me."  
"You're an Invader right?"  
"Training, I haven't had a mission yet. And doesn't look like I will have one."  
"Oh." Pid watched Tin take a long blade-ended staff off the wall. "What are you doing?"  
"Just looking." He held the weapon with a comfortable ease. "This is nice workmanship."  
"Yes it is, now please put it back."  
A smirk crossed Tins' face. He turned the weapon on Pid. "Protect yourself."  
"What?"  
Tin lunged, he meant for it to be a play move and was amazed to find his staff pinned to the ground with a triple pronged Ghala blade. The hand that held the blade was owned by Pid.  
"How did you?"  
The blade was pulled from the floor, Pid flipped it in his hand. "You think just because I deal with history and thoughts I don't know how to protect myself?"  
Tin blinked. "Well, I mean. I've never seen one from your class doing anything like that."  
"Most won't, he's just paranoid."  
Both Irkens turned to find the old one and an older female walking towards them. She had violet eyes and wore a Nursery Blue uniform.  
"Nursery Watcher." Pid said nodding to her.   
Tin didn't know what to do and mimicked Pid.  
"Kilew will be witness to your official measurements." The old Irken said.  
"Where is Fer?" Pid asked.  
Kilew waved her hand. "Young Fer had to run an errand, you will see him later I'm sure. Now to measure." She pulled a small disk from a pocket and took a few steps towards Tin. "Stand straight."  
Immediately Tin stood at attention not moving a muscle.   
Kilew pressed a button on the disk. It glowed and hovered from her hand then zipped to the ground at Tins' feet. It scanned him all the way up and all the way down.  
"You're turn." She said to Pid.   
Tin watched Pid pull up straight but not as stiffly as he had.   
"You can relax now."   
Tin turned to Kilew then realized he no longer had to act like an officer anymore. He turned back to Pid just as the disk finished scanning him.  
Both Kilew and the old Irken looked over the results muttering to themselves.   
"Well?" Tin asked. He felt a bit impatient.  
"You are, officially." Kilew turned the two readings to the new Tallers. "The exact same height. Congratulations Tallers."  
***  
"What do we do now?"  
Kilew, the Nursery Watcher, sighed. "We do nothing."  
A raise of voices fluttered through the small room where a handful of Tallers sat around a table. "Are you serious?"  
"Of course I am." She said in a hard tone. "Unless any of you can go against your own programming and kill one of them it is our only course of action."  
"What do we do with them?" A red-eyed female asked.  
"Have them both subliminally trained to be Tallest. Should one them actually perish the other will be there to take his place."  
"And if they both survive?" A rare green-eyed male asked.  
"Then we have the unthinkable. We have two Tallest."  
***  
Tin looked longingly at the holo-clock on his desk. He wanted out of here and outside. He glanced at Pid. The other new Taller seemed to be doing all right. He was farther along in the reading than Tin was.  
"Invaders are not made to be behind desks." Tin said quietly.  
Pid looked up. Under normal conditions a Teacher or the Archivist would have scolded Tin soundly for speaking like that in a learning environment. But this was not the Archives.  
"It's not much, really." Pid said. "I've had harder reading assignments when I was in Early training."  
"You were doing THIS sort of thing in Early training? I was jumping through hoops and fighting my way through throngs of Sketter Rats with my platoon in Early training!"  
Pid shrugged. "Not my fault."  
Tin groaned. "This is horrible, I had no idea being a Taller could be so, so."  
"Utterly and ferociously boring?" Pid asked not looking up from his screen.  
"Couldn't have put it better myself. But I thought you liked this stuff."  
"I'm programmed for it, but I hate it." Pids' screen continued to scroll down.  
"That's strangely pathetic."  
"You should try living it." Violet eyes turned up to crimson ones. "The reason I trained myself with a Ghala was so I'd have an excuse to get away from this torture."  
"Yeah, you seemed pretty handy with that."  
"I pinned you didn't I? Mr. High-Invader."  
"How did you know about that?"  
Pid snorted. "Everyone in the Archives knows what all the other Classes are doing. Why do you think it's called an archive?"  
Tin shrugged. "You want to go and do something?"  
"Yes." Pid said nodding slowly. "Yes I do."  
***  
"So where's that little guy, Fer was his name?" Tin asked as his drink slid out of the hole in the table. They had found a table free in 'The Flaming Nacho'.  
"Fer has been transferred."  
"To where?"  
"Anywhere away from me." Pid sounded almost depressed.  
"What? Why?"  
Pid blinked. "I'm not sure. I heard an elder talking about it, something about him being a bad influence. They never seemed to care about that before now."  
"Why would he be a bad influence?"  
Pid took a sip from his drink. "Look, we're very tall right?"  
Tin nodded. "Yes."  
"You're not supposed to be as tall as you are and I'm only marginally supposed to be as tall as I am, right?"  
"Right." Tin said nodding again.  
"Doesn't it seem odd to you that the both of us are exactly identical in height, right down the millimeter?"  
"I never really thought of it. Some are the same height like that back in the barracks."  
"But Tallers are almost never identical in height." Pid said keeping his voice low but with a hint of urgency. "I think." He paused moving his drink on the table. "I think we're getting to be taller than they expected."  
Tin cocked an 'eyebrow.' "How do you mean?"  
"You know how tall the Tallest is?"  
Tin shrugged. "Not really."  
"He's six feet seven inches three centimeters and two point three millimeters tall."  
"That's tall."  
"You and I." Pid said motioning between them. "Are five feet three inches and seven centimeters exactly."  
"And that means?" Tin asked not fully under standing.  
"That means, you and I are three heights from being the Next-To-Tallest. And that, my friend, is a precarious position to be in." 


	3. Part 3

Twins of Irk  
  
Tin stumbled a bit when Pid crashed into him slightly. He snickered a bit drunkenly. "Can't you stay on your feet?" He asked the purple-eyed Irken.  
"No." Pid replied leaning on the corridor wall.   
Tin glanced around the unfamiliar hall. "Where are we again?"  
"That's your room." Pid pointed to one door. "And, wait that's not my room, that's my room." He pointed to another door that was his.  
They weren't flat-out drunk, just buzzed.   
"Right, my room." Tin fumbled for the print ID panel until his door slid open.   
"You know what?"  
Tin paused and turned slowly to Pid. "What?"  
"I don't remember." Pid obviously wasn't one who could hold his liquor. He opened the door to his own room and disappeared within.  
Tin shook his head and slunk into his room. "Lights." He yelped at the bright lights. "Dim! Dim!" The lights lowered until he could see with little pain. The door slid shut behind him.  
It was a really nice room. He had slowly gotten used to it, he still got lost trying to find it but that was beside the point.   
He crashed into his bed curling up slowly and trying not to make himself dizzy.  
His eyes closed and his breathing evened out.   
Somewhere on the other side of the room a taller-than-average figure slipped out from behind a couch. Purple eyes glimmered slightly in the dim lights. In his hand he held a small silver device. He regarded the thing scornfully.  
After a moment the figure was sure Tin was asleep. He crept forward holding the thing out like a weapon.  
He suddenly paused his arm lowering slowly. "What am I doing?" The figure asked himself in a breath. He stalked to the door preformed an override on the print ID panel and disappeared into the hall.  
***  
"Pid wake up!"  
"Gah! No yelling." Pid rubbed his forehead.  
"You're such a light-weight. Come on, walk it off." Tin said poking Pid with a pen.  
"Stop it, are you always so childish?"  
"Possibly." Tin replied poking Pid a final time with the pen before the other Irkens' hand shot out and took it. "Just get up already."  
"How did you get in my room?" Pid asked looking for his boots.  
"Those ID pads are so easy to get past it's not funny." Tin handed Pid one of his boots.   
Pid got up and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"  
"Later than it should be. We have to meet Kilew for out next measurement soon."  
"What did you let me sleep so long for?" Pid demanded trying to make himself look presentable.  
"You seemed like you needed it, and don't jump down my throat, we're not really late, just mildly late."  
Pid grumbled to himself as they left his quarters. "Next time we're just going to not get drunk the night before our measuring."  
"Oh sure, let's be sensible about it all." Tin play-hit Pid on his shoulder, something Invaders did with their platoon members.   
As they exited the small hallway into a larger portion Tins' eyes wandered up. The Size of the hall never ceased to amaze him.  
"I just hope that Kilew isn't mad. You know how she gets when..." His voice trailed. "Fer?"  
Tin blinked. "Fer? She never says anything about him."  
"No, there." Pid pointed across the sparsely populated Hall. "Fer!"  
A purple-eyed Irken looked up from another he was talking to. His antenna shot up in a common sign of distress and shock. He dropped a clipboard he had in his hands and bolted in the opposite direction from Pid and Tin.  
"Hey, where's he going?" Pid started after him. "Fer wait!"  
Something whipped past him. It took a moment but Pid recognized Tin leaping through the hall with the aid of extra legs. The few people in the hall gasped as the red-eyed Irken sped past them tackling Fer to the ground.  
Pid lifted himself with his own extra legs and hurried over where Tin was hauling Fer off the ground with a gentle growl.  
"Tin, put him down! Fer, why did you run?"  
Fer squirmed. "No, put me down, I can't be seen with him!" He was a lot smaller than either Pid or Tin, he had stopped growing some time ago.  
"Can't be seen with who?" Tin asked. Pid didn't like the tone he used.  
"Pid, I." Fer bit his lip and his head fell forward. "What a mess."  
"Tin, sake of the Tallest, put him down." Pid said. Tin complied but still held onto the front of Fers' uniform. "Now, what's going on, why did you run like that?"  
"I'm not supposed to even look at you. I was only supposed to watch you for so." He clamped a hand over his mouth.  
"Watch me?"  
Fer started cursing as Tin lifted him roughly and carried him to smaller hallway. Pid followed wondering if Tin would kill the smaller Irken.  
"You're going to talk." Tin said in a low voice. "And if you don't." One of the red eyed Irkens arachnid legs slammed into the wall that he had forced Fer against.  
"Alright I'll talk! But I can only say so much." Fer squeaked.  
"Just talk." Tin let him go but kept close. His height alone was intimidating enough.  
Pid blinked at his friend.  
Fer rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm trying, really I'm trying. This is such a mess I can't tell you how badly I'm going to regret this." His purple eyes closed. "Just know that I'm sorry in advance."  
"Sorry for what?" Pid asked. His body jerked in surprise as the smaller Irken threw himself at him claws and attacking extra legs flared.  
Tin reached and missed Fer. His instincts smacked him and he pulled Fer off of Pid. It was easier than it should have been.  
Fer collapsed in Tins' grasp.  
"Fer you idiot." Pid said half in shock of what just happened. The Ghala blade was buried hilt deep in Fers' stomach. He knelt down by his friend.  
Fer coughed, dark red seeped out of his mouth and stained his clothes. His hand grappled for Pids'. "I'm sorry." His eyes dulled and his arm went limp in Pids' hand.  
"He forgot about that blade." Tin said closing Fers' eyes.  
"No." Pid said. "He couldn't have, he gave it to me. He meant for me to kill him."  
"Why would he do that?"  
"I don't know yet, but I'll find out." Pid said opening his hand revealing a small data-crystal.  
***  
"Nursery Watcher."  
Kilew looked up. "Yes what is it?"  
"The young one, Fer, he has been relocated."  
"Bring him to me then, I want to speak with him."  
The male who had brought the news stalled. "I can't."  
She blinked. "Why not?"  
"He's dead, killed by a Ghala, it was almost immediate."  
She sat there silently for a moment. "Call the rest of our council to me."  
"Yes ma'am." The male left.  
***  
"Can you decode that?" Tin asked looking at the complex code that flittered down the screen.  
"Yes." Pid said sliding his fingers across the touch-pad. "Fer and I have a code we would sip each other notes during classes." A vague smile crossed his face. "Well." The smile vanished. "We had a code."  
The monitor blinked to life with an image. Fers' face was plainly visible. "Hello." He said slowly. "I suppose if anyone is watching this, then I have done one of two things that I can't bring myself to say." He paused taking a breath.  
"If this is Tin, I apologize. I made you commit your action against Pid. If he is indeed dead don't blame yourself. Blame me. If this is both Tin and Pid then I failed to finish my task. The both of you live and I am dead. Please Pid, don't worry, I would have wound up like that either way."  
Tin made a motion to say something but the version of Fer on the screen kept talking.  
"To clear this up. I first have to say that as far as I know at least one of you runs the risk of being eliminated should my faction have its way. The Nursery Watcher has only so much power now. The others see her decision as a joke. There have never been two Tallest, and most think there never should be.  
"Neither of you has any reason to understand what I just said. But the both of you are not identical by chance."  
"I knew it." Pid hissed.  
"One of you." Fer continued. "Was a mistake. The records don't show which one. You were both destined to be Tallest and split up to observe you both on your own. We had hoped one of you would eventually be taller than the other. That has not happened yet and by my own calculations, it never will.  
"The Nursery Class has complete control over the Irken Empire. They decide who goes where and train everyone in a position of power subliminally through the same nanites that control their height. My faction is determined to keep it that way. Except for me."  
His image lowered his eyes. "If Pid is dead my loyalty is proved. If I am dead." He sighed. "Then you must keep your mouths shut about all of this. I only tell you what I know too keep you from blundering around and getting yourselves hurt. But keep your eyes open. I don't know what else might happen."  
Fer straightened himself up. "By now my death has been recorded, the Nursery Watcher has called a meeting and this 'problem' is being absolved. If they find out I told you anything you will be in danger. If you destroy this crystal once it turns off you will both be safe." He waved to them. "Good-bye." The screen went blank.  
Pid took the crystal out of the reader, set it on the table and crushed it with a desk decoration. He turned to Tin slowly. "We have plans to make." 


	4. Part 4

A/N: You know, I think this is the only Tallest fic that has no (and will have no) slash in it...bizarre!  
  
Twins of Irk  
  
"Kilew it was an accident."  
"Shut up!" She growled at the assembled council. "Did you not hear me when I spoke? True this is unusual but this is not something that can be worked around."  
"But, the protocols."  
"Are not worth the life of a Tallest." Kilew hissed. "They are both under our protection. If we start killing them off what is to stop later generations from doing the same?" She settled back in her chair, violet eyes glaring. "Fer is commended for his actions, he had his own life taken in place of Pids'."  
The small council stayed backed down.  
"Now. We don't know how much information Fer did give to either of them. This is what we need to discover first. You all are dismissed to gather this information." Her head tilted to a purple-eyed male down the table. "Oh and Geiu, if I hear that your faction has made another attempt to send Tin into a killing frenzy against Pid you will wish I had you executed."  
The male Geius' antenna pressed back and he went to a paler green. "Yes Nursery Watcher."  
***  
"What do you mean we don't do anything?" Tin almost roared.  
Pid put his hand over the other Irkens' mouth. "Keep it down alright? We are probably being watched you know."  
Tin took Pids' hand from his mouth. "They tried to kill you!"  
"Tried and failed. But I don't know how. Couldn't have been a direct assault, they must have been trying a back way." He crossed his arms in thought.  
"What ever it was they might try it again." Tin said picking up a desk decoration. He paused antenna jerking forward. "What was that?"  
"What was what?" Pid asked, his attention more on a picture of Fer he had than the world around him.  
Tin slipped away before Pid could see what was going on. The red-eyed Irken flung open a small cabinet door used to hold new clothes. The little pale red-eyed Irken squealed as Tin grabbed it.  
"No! Let me go! Ow! You're hurting me!" The voice had a distinctive timber to it, only heard in...  
"Tin drop her that's a female!" Pid shot up rushing over.   
Tin let go and the tiny female ran but found she was trapped against the wall between a bed to high for her to jump and two tall Irkens. She crouched making herself look smaller and hissed.  
"It's okay, we won't hurt you."  
Tin held his hand, dark red seeped out of the minor bite wound. He only scowled.  
"What are you hiding in my room for?"  
She blinked and huddled down lower. "Orders. You came before I could leave."   
"From who?" Tin asked, Pid didn't like the growl in his voice.  
She only huddled down lower.  
"Was it the Nursery Watcher?" Tin demanded.  
She didn't respond.  
Pid motioned for Tin to remain quiet. "Please talk to us, we won't hurt you."  
"Not her." The little female said, her voice was almost too high to hear. She looked up tilting her head warily at Tin. "It was Fer."  
"Fer sent you here? When?" Pid asked crouching down.  
She uncurled herself. "He told me he wasn't coming back, that I had to watch you for a little while." She twisted her fingers together nervously. "Is, he really dead?"  
Pid nodded slowly. "Yes." He was surprised when she stood up. She couldn't have been above two feet. But her clothing markings and the patch on the front of her uniform said she was an adult.  
"Then he is not disgraced." She held out her little hand. "I am Wen. Fer and I were of the same hatchery group for Nursery Drones."  
"Fer wasn't a Nursery Drone, he was a Thinker."  
She shook her head. "Have you ever seen a Nursery Drone in uniform besides the Nursery Watcher?"  
Pid and Tin exchanged looks.  
"Exactly." She said. "The nurseries are automated, only ones like myself are there to help care for the newborns." She pulled on the collar of her uniform showing the place just below her collar bone. A small black mark in the shape of an overly curved 'S'. "This is the brand that binds us all." She let the collar slip back up to cover the tattoo.  
"What do you know about the attempt on Pid?" Tin asked going closer to the small female.   
She looked up at him with little of the fear she had before. "They wanted to use Assailant nanites."  
"They what!?"  
She blinked. "Two to be precise. Fer told me what his faction was doing. I leaked it to the Nursery Watcher. One was to attach it'self in Tins' learning construct that is already in place. The other was to activate his adrenaline flow."  
"Assailants? Those were only used for Berserkers set down in riots." Tin said. His right hand traveled up to his chest. "And they were going to." He voice trailed off.  
"You were their answer to the no kill protocol." Wen said clasping her tiny hands behind her back. "One Tallest killing the other was their idea of a viable answer. But not many other liked that idea. That faction is rebellious. Fer." She cast her eyes down. "Was the better of them."  
"How well did you know him?" Pid asked sitting on the floor.  
"Well enough, he came to visit me at times. All Nursery Drones know each other, but he was, different. He spoke of you often." She smiled at Pid.  
She went forward a little and picked up Pids' hand. "You were his greatest friend. I thank you."  
***  
The door came open allowing light into the dark. Old purple eyes searched out the small figure that entered.  
"Tell me little one. Do they know about us?"  
Wen stood straight and held her hands behind her back. "No."  
"Do they know of the assassination attempt?"  
"Yes." Wen answered. "But they believe that the attempt was with poison."  
"This is good my little spy." Kilew said tapping her fingers together. "I want them watched until the Tallest is obsolete. When they are in their rightful place Geiu will be harmless."  
Wens' antenna wriggled nervously. "Nursery Watcher? The child?"  
"Ah yes. Do not worry, you and Fer do have a child. The identification number of the child will be delivered to you so you can see it."  
"Thank you Nursery Watcher." Wen said backing out of the room.  
Kilew folded her hands in her lap. Wen was a good worker, but a horrible liar.   
Something outside the room fell with a startling bang. She pressed a button on a device on her wrist. "What was that?"  
A voice replied unsteadily. "An Invader youth showed up. I don't know how he got past the guards. He's raving like a lunatic!" In the background a loud cackle could be heard. Something like 'fools! I'll destroy you all!' came in from the background between the laughing.  
"Get him away from that!" A voice came over the small intercom.  
"Fire!"  
"Put it out quick!" Came more voices.  
Kilew sighed and rubbed her forehead. She stood up and straightened her clothes then went to go deal with the problem. It could only be one Irken of course, a poor child who had been a mistake from his conception. Her son Zim. 


	5. Part 5

Twins of Irk  
  
Kilew narrowed her eyes from the shadows at the small Irken restrained in a chair. He struggled quite a bit. Her poor insane son. He, like Fer, had originally been intended to be a Nursery Drone and placed to watch Tin. But in a programming accident Invader programming had been hardwired to him. Two sets of nanites intended to teach the child his job in life had warred over his mind. The effects were horrifying.   
He had started out as a normal Invader-class child. But the battle between the tiny robots wore that away quickly. He became irrational, hard to control, nearly impossible to predict and a raging pyromaniac. She had no intention to let her remaining son fall away to nothing because of a programming error. Not when her other son had just died by the hands of a Soon-To-Be-Tallest.  
"Let me go! You fools! You will all pay for holding me like this!" The young Zim screeched.  
"Zim." She barked.   
Some back-up section of his Nursery programming kicked in. He recognized her voice, who she was to society and who she was to him. His antenna backed and his eyes widened in immediate submission.  
She took a step into the light. "You know who I am?"  
He nodded and seemed to whimper. Was he frightened of her? He shouldn't be.   
She placed a hand on his head. "It's all right my son. Soon you will be much better. I'm sorry it took so long for me to rectify this mistake. But I had to see if you would do well on your own." She looked up to a male that had been standing to the side. "Take him to get his brand removed and prepare him for a programming overhaul. I want him with Invader programming."  
"Yes Nursery Watcher." The male approached Zim.  
Zim looked up at her reaching for her with his eyes. "M-mother?" He asked. He looked nothing like his brother but he sounded like him.  
"I'm sorry. This is for the best." She looked to the male again. "I don't want him to remember anything about the Nursery." She looked back down at the ruby eyes that mirrored his father. "Or me."  
"No, please! I'll be good! I promise!" Zim fought but a quick sedative quieted him.  
Kilew left the room without a backward look to her son. But at least he would live.  
***  
The Nursery hummed along in its task. Computerized measurements were taken of each growing child. It was still a long time before the next hatching cycle but sometimes the young came early. And so tiny Irkens skittered along the vast walls of embryos on small robotic legs.  
They checked each tank separately and carefully checking their findings with the computers. The little creatures would be the first living Irken any of these newborns would see. They would later recall them as others in their hatchery-age that just 'went somewhere else'. That was the point behind their diminutive size. They were easily forgotten.  
A few eyes wandered to one of their kind that hovered obsessively near one tank in particular. It didn't matter to them that she was not running over to check the other children. This was her child, one that would join their under-sized ranks.  
A male Irken with green eyes lowered himself along the wall to her. Her child was located along the floor level of tanks. "Wen, has a name been assigned to him?" He asked peering through one of the observation openings.  
She touched the cap on the tube that was buried in the wall. "His name is Fen. His brand is being constructed now."  
The overly curved 'S' mark was a reconstruction of melanoma in a Nursery Drones' skin. Nanites worked in a pattern concentrating the special cells so the skin became almost black, but it was actually an intensely dark green. No Nursery Drone could remove it on their own if they wished to, this way no Drone could easily abandon their post.  
"How lovely that the traitorous Fer will be remembered through a child."  
Both tiny Irkens looked up to see a fairly tall figure.  
"Geiu." Wen said not hiding her disdain. It was because of HIM she had to rely on a child to continue Fers' memory.  
"You are not supposed to be in the Main-Hatchery room Taller one." The small male said.  
"And what are you going to do to stop me Rev? Bite my ankles?"  
Wen put a restraining hand on Revs' shoulder. "What are you doing here then Taller?" She asked. "If you're here to further damage Fers' name then you can just leave. It will not be tolerated."  
"And if I am here to do that?"  
A collective hiss issued from the twenty or so under-sized Irkens along the massive walls of the Hatchery. Second sets of teeth shows sharply behind the normal squared ones most other Irkens had, claws on ungloved hands extended to twice their normal length.  
Not only were they to be the newborns first encounter with others of their species but they were the Hatcheries last line of defense.   
"Fer was good to us. He did not hold our height against us." Rev hissed. "We will defend his honor."  
"I see." Geiu said. He held a small black device. "I suggest you all back down. Or I will press this button and row after row of your yet-to-be-borns will be dismantled by their own instruction nanites."  
The other drones froze. "You wouldn't." Wen said. "You can't. You're a Nursery Drone, like us. You protect."  
"I protect the Tallest." Geiu interrupted. "Not the general population. And trust me little one. Your child is in the first row that will be destroyed if you do not do as I say little one."  
Rev pushed his antenna forward in hostility. "What would you have her do then Taller?" He said the last word like an insult.  
"Only to do what Fer failed to do." He held out a small silver device. "Inject this into the Soon-To-Be-Tallest Tin, and I will hand this over to you to have destroyed." He waved the black thing in his hand at them.  
Wen looked to Rev, he held no answer for her. Her antenna backed, head lowered and she held out her hand for the silver device.  
***  
Tin yawned as he scrolled through a bit of his 'homework'. Despite the attack on Pid and the death of Fer he still had a load of things to read through.  
He blinked at the monitor and switched it off. It was too much boring to deal with for one day. He got up and stretched, his antenna brushed the ceiling.  
"Wow I'm tall." He remarked to himself reaching up to touch the ceiling. His face fell when he remembered he was made to be like this.  
"Depressing isn't it?"  
Red eyes snapped to tiny pale ones.   
"To realize you were designed instead of just born." Wen said in hollow tone.  
"How did you get in?"  
Wen made a motion like a shrug, but her small size blurred it into a nod. "Does it matter?"  
"You could have just come in through the door." He crouched down lower to her. "Is something wrong?" He was very wary. Maybe something had happened to Pid, something might have actually happened to him.  
"There will be." She said.  
"What do you, OW!" His hand recoiled. He had been reaching to her, she looked like she was about to collapse into tears. He rubbed his hand finding a pinprick in his skin welling with blood. "What was that?"  
"I'm so sorry, I had to. They were going to kill him. I had to." Pencil thin arachnid legs erupted from her back and she leapt up to the ceiling and disappeared into an open air vent.  
Tin stood up and rubbed his hand. He had a very bad feeling about this.  
Something in his chest constricted. He felt like he was suffocating. He stumbled and fell to his knees panting hard.  
Light spilled over him. The door had opened. "Tin?"  
Oh no, not him.  
Tin looked up blindly seeing Pid at the front door. "Run." He croaked.  
"Tin are you alright?"  
Tin did the only thing that came to mind. A quick lash with an arachnid leg that missed its mark made Pid back away. "Run, now."  
Pid stood there a moment more. It was when Tin roared at him that he turned and bolted.  
***  
Kilew watched with a heavy heart as Zim was slowly led across a hall. He was going to have the last of his programming erased and redone. His personality would be wiped and replaced with one more easily controlled. He would not remember her.  
Some one squealed as a tall Irken crashed into the hall. She immediately recognized Pid. He looked like a Kevnar beast was on his tail.  
It was when Tin burst in after him on arachnid legs screaming like said Kevnar beast that she realized what had happened. Geiu would pay.  
Tin carried a staff tipped on either end with a deadly blade, he had taken it from one of the display walls. His red eyes burned with a blood lust as he howled and dashed after Pid.   
The few others in this section of the hall scattered in fear from the rampaging soldier. Pid could barely keep ahead of him.  
Kilew ran as fast as her old joints would let her. She was old by any Irken standard but panic gave strength. She grabbed Zim up from the guards that guided him to his fate. "Not just yet boys!" She cried to the startled males.  
She turned Zims' head and eyes to Pid. "Do you see that Irken?" She asked.  
"Yes." He said.  
"Protect him." She gave the small Irken a gentle push towards Pid. She turned to the guards. "Get a tranquilizer!"  
Tin used the staff to vault himself at Pid. He landed on his fleeing prey pinning the other Irken down. A growl escaped him as he inhaled the scent he was now programmed to destroy.  
"No, Tin, please." Pid struggled to reach his blade and saw the deadly ends of Tins weapon rise.  
He closed his eyes tight only to feel Tin get off him. A loud thump issued from the side and rampant snarling from Tin, no, from Tin and someone else. Pid opened his eyes to see who the second person was.  
A short Irken hissed and raked at Tin with claws. The taller of the fighters threw the smaller off him and tried to regain his bearings.  
Zim shook his head clear of stars and growled.   
Pid watched at Tin got up, tried to attack only to be knocked to the ground again by a full-bodied counter-attack by this other Irken. Arachnid legs and small spatters of blood clangs and splashed together from the two.  
Tins' confused mind saw Pid as the only threat. But this other creature kept hurting him! He was becoming frustrated. He turned open mouthed on the little attempting to use tooth and claw on the intruder.  
Zim leapt, used his extra legs to support him and kicked Tin in the jaw. Tin squealed in pain grabbing at his face. A final enraged growl, Tin grabbed the small Zim and flung him into a wall.  
Zim hit with a sickening sound and feel limply to the ground.  
Pid pulled out his Ghala blade and stood ready to defend himself. He wasn't jumped from behind this time.  
Tin retrieved his own weapon. It had been lost when Zim had crashed into him that first time. He tapped one bladed end on the floor and hissed. He lunged and once more never saw Pids' movement as the Ghala pinned the staff.  
Tin wrenched his weapon up. A sharp snap and one of the three prongs broke from Pids' blade.  
Tin lunged again but Pid couldn't pin the longer weapon with only two prongs. He caught up the staff between the remaining blades as it darted for him. He pushed away from his body and tried to spring away.  
Maybe if Tin hadn't been a solder Pid would have made it. But a quick reach and the purple eyed Irken was thrown on his back, smacking his head on the hard floor.  
His sight swam from the quick action and equally quick stab of pain. All he could recall was Tin above him raising his own broken blade above him. Then the red-eyed giant falling over with something red tipped sticking out of his neck.  
And then, Pid blacked out. 


	6. Part 6

Twins of Irk  
  
The one-eyed announcer drone popped up on screens across the Irken Empire. "Citizens of Irk!" The creature said in a mournful announcer-voice. "A great tragedy is at hand."  
Kilew watched the monitor silently, her antenna twitching slightly. Geiu had been caught trying to escape in a loaded Voot Cruiser. He was now having his mind wiped of all personality. He would be used as a maintenance worker. That's what happened to Irkens that broke any serious law. They were wiped of everything and used for manual labor.  
She had warned him...  
"Our great and wise Tallest has been gravely injured." The creature continued. "An explosion in the 'Great Hall' has claimed the lives of the Second-to-Tallest and Third-to-Tallest. Our Tallest himself is in critical condition and is predicted to cease functioning by the end of the day. The Fourth-to-Tallest Irkens, a rarity on their own, are said to be in good health."  
The old purple-eyed Irken blinked solemnly. The Tallest had actually been dead for weeks. A succession of heart attacks had claimed him. But the Soon-to-be-Tallests were not ready to take their place. Even now they were a bit too young. But younger Tallests had risen and done great things.  
The other two that had stood between Tin and Pid for the title of 'Tallest' had indeed been killed in an explosion. But it had been the Nursery-Class that had set it up. Not the band of rebels that they were blaming it on.  
The rest of the Empire would be crushed until the new Tallest was appointed. They would get a shock on seeing two of them. The general public knew very little about the taller members of society. And barely any cared.  
She stood up making her way out of the office. She paced down the halls. Soon she would join the thousands that had come before her but she had a little to do yet.  
Her long fingers brushed along a control panel.  
There on a bed in the middle of a room lay a small Irken form. His back-pod had many wires plugged into it along with several in a band around his head. His nearly ruby eyes were closed, almost in death.  
"How is the memory reconstruction going?" She asked.  
The short red-eyed male looked up from his work. "Fine Kilew. So far we have up to his seventh cycle redone. His internal programming has been restored and the Nursery nanites flushed out. Though I believe a touch of his manic disposition and Pyromania will remain."  
"Some things we cannot change." Kilew said slowly. She stroked Zims' forehead. "But I think he will continue to be the bane of any Tallest."  
The male stood up and took her hand looking up at her. "It's not your fault." He said. His own advanced age showed deeply around his eyes.  
"He looks so much like you." She held his hand in return.   
"And Fer was like you."  
They stood quietly a moment.  
"I must go check on the Tallests." Kilew finally said.  
"I will see you later then." The male said letting her hand go.  
"Yes, Pex, you will." She left the room quietly to head farther along the hall.  
In still another room she found twin Irkens just coming around.  
"Nursery Watcher." Pid nodded but stopped mid way and held his head in dizziness.  
"It is alright, it is I who should bow to you."  
"What?" Tin asked. His right arm was in a sling. A manufactured wound of course. It took a strong-willed Nursery Drone to have done it.  
"Our Tallest died, earlier. It has not yet been told to the public. We let them get used to the idea then we tell them. Gree and Trou, the Fourth and Third-to-Tallests are both already dead."  
Pid blinked. "That makes us."  
"Tallest." Tin finished.  
Kilew nodded. "Yes."  
Pid rubbed his head again. "What happened? I remember going to see Tin, and then." He paused.  
"The explosion was preceded by a sonic wave designed to render any Irken in the area unconscious. The were not able to run. You two were just outside the blast-range but inside the wave." She folded her hands behind her back. "It was very fortunate."  
"Yes it is." Pid said sounding astounded.  
"I will leave you two to collect your thoughts then." She bowed formally to them. "My Tallest."  
They barely seemed to notice her leave.  
Kilew turned slightly to the female Nursery Drone that was placed in the Medic-Ward. "What do they know?"  
"You mean what DID they know." The female corrected. "They knew everything. Fer told them through a data crystal and Wen filled in the gaps for them. We flushed out most of it. We reconstructed what had happened to Fer and will tell them he was among the dead in the blast. Better than having a Tallest with a guilty conscience. We also had to go in and find the Assailants. It was harder than we thought, chances are Tin will be a bit more violent than Pid, well, more than he already is."  
Kilew nodded. "Very good. How did their personalities hold against the wipe?"  
The female shifted a little on her feet. "Not too well. There's a fifty-fifty chance they'll be relatively the same. But there's also the other half a chance that they'll just become jerks."  
Kilew raised one 'eye-brow'.  
The female shrugged. "That's all I know."  
Kilew sighed. "So long as they live." She started back down the hall to her office. "Come with me Fia, I'll need some help making plans to introduce those two as leaders."  
Fia nodded and followed the ageing Nursery Watcher.  
***  
"And, now, for the moment you've all been waiting for!" The announcer-voice blared over every intercom, speaker and monitor across the Empire. "The rarest occurrence in Irken history! So rare it's never happen before!" There was a strategic pause.  
The crowd went wild as smoke, lasers and confetti, the previous Tallest had a thing for confetti, flew through the air. Two thin figures hovering inches of the ground in proper Tallest fashion waved to them as they were lowered on a platform.  
"Here they are! Almighty Tallest Red and Almighty Tallest Purple!"  
The crowd exploded at this. Two Tallests that had to be called by the colors of their eyes just to tell them apart. It was definite cause for celebration.  
Down in the Invader-Class section a small Invader new to his platoon cheered. For one brief moment he stopped clapping and fell silent. He had the urge to run up on stage and do something utterly unspeakable. He had the urge to harm his Tallest. The red one in particular. To keep him away from the Purple one and keep him safe.  
But it quickly blinked from his mind and a quick jab from another Irken got him cheering again.  
Still farther back in the over-sized room a tiny creature crouched with a handful of others along a ledge by the ceiling. They were small in size, nearly the size of newborns, or perhaps one-cycle-olds.  
One with pale red eyes held an even smaller creature that squealed happily at the confetti and smoke. Wen cuddled her son as another Hatchery-Drone stroked the infants' miniscule head. The smallest caste of the Irken empire was allowed to be so affectionate, they were never publicly seen anyway.  
Out on the stage the new leaders of the Irken Empire prepared to make their first of thousands of speeches.  
All the while, the crowd cheered on.  
  
End 


End file.
